President Trump to Investigate European Trade Partners for Not Paying Their Fair Share for American Medicines
The following content is sponsored by Americans for Limited Government.
At a White House news conference last month, President Donald Trump announced a major step forward in lowering drug prices and promised he would take action against European countries that have not paid their fair share for the drugs Americans are innovating and inventing.
“That’s why my administration is also taking historic steps to investigate unfair and discriminatory trade practices by other countries that extort our pharmaceutical manufacturers into passing on costs to the American consumer,” Trump said.
THE Financial Times now reports that action will soon be taken:
The looming investigation, which would fall under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, would examine whether U.S. trading partners are underpaying for drugs, three people familiar with the matter said.
Trump has repeatedly complained that other countries pay less than the United States for their medicines and signaled that he would take trade action against countries that refused to “equalize.”
Forcing European countries to abandon their price controls through strong trade agreements will reduce our trade deficit while keeping America ahead of China in inventing new drugs.
If we simply imported socialist price controls to Europe as Obama, Biden and Pelosi wanted, it would have destroyed our pharmaceutical industry and put cures for devastating diseases out of reach for many patients.
As Chris Klomp, deputy administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said, “And it might have actually worked for a little while, but very quickly it would have completely destroyed innovation in pharmaceuticals. It would have destroyed American primacy in making life-saving drugs. There are almost 20,000 known diseases on the planet. We have treatments or cures for well under 10 percent.” of them. So that would have been a bad strategy, and it would have limited access to them.” who need these medications the most.
If we are serious about reducing drug prices and maintaining American superiority in drug development, we must stop playing by the globalists’ rules. During his first term, President Trump put American workers first by renegotiating unfavorable trade deals and pressuring NATO to meet its financial obligations and pay its fair share.
America does not need to copy failing systems: it must lead the way. Instead of changing our prices to match those of socialist countries, Trump is demanding that rich European countries pay their fair share. If anyone should match prices, it’s them, not us.
By forcing other countries to pay their fair share for their drugs, new trade deals could offer a more comprehensive approach to lowering prices for Americans.
“Our trade policy will prioritize ensuring that foreign countries pay their fair share for medicines made in the United States, so that our pharmaceutical companies have more financial resources to accelerate the development of new treatments,” Trump said.
Americans deserve affordable medicine, but we also deserve the best medicine in the world. We won’t get there by copying socialist systems that ration health care and stifle innovation. We will do this by unleashing American ingenuity, holding foreign profiteers accountable, and demanding a system that finally puts Americans first.
